CASE IN ILLUSTRATION. 239 



have begun to run at the first movement of the 

 spaniels, he loses no time in getting forward, and 

 stations himself quietly at the end of the copse, 

 where he bags his ten or dozen cock pheasants 

 before the beaters have come up with him. In 

 the meantime, what has Lord Tyro been about ? 

 The birds are flying before, across, and over his 

 head, presenting every imaginable variety of shot 

 at easy distances. The keeper who had entered 

 the cover along with the beaters now pauses, and 

 leaning over the fence on the lower side of the 

 hanger watches his performance with an anxious 

 countenance. The gentleman has evidently seen 

 a gun before, for he handles the weapon with an 

 easy familiarity, and brings down his first bird 

 only winged however and as it runs across the 

 meadow towards the gorse-field, he seems in 

 doubt for an instant whether to pursue it, or to 

 take his second gun from his attendant, when a 

 sudden burst of five or six pheasants at some dis- 

 tance settles the question. He is evidently bewil- 

 dered, and cannot make up his mind which to 

 select until all are nearly out of reach. At last 

 he fires at one rather a long shot a slight shud- 

 der, unnoticed by him or his man, does not escape 

 the practised eye of the keeper, but the bird 

 continues its flight and drops apparently unhurt 

 into the furze. In the meantime two more bar- 



